


When Fondue Changes the World

by LittleAngel



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Feels, Bruce learns to relax, Gen, Implied Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Steve and Bruce bonding, Tony and Steve work out some issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 09:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3406244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleAngel/pseuds/LittleAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is more to Captain America than most people understand, and a history slightly darker than they can believe. Fondue is the beginning and an end for lives to be changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Fondue and Reality Checks

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've never written in the Avengers category before, and this is my first step into that pool. I've had this on my mind for a couple days and finally decided to get it down on paper. It jumps a lot, but that's how I saw it happening in my mind.
> 
> I also think there is a lot more to Captain America than the movies give him credit for and there were a couple moments in both Captain America and Avengers that I saw things a little differently then how they were portrayed.
> 
> I'm not going to apologize for anything except changing the dates of things and Steve's age when he gets the Serum injected. If that's going to bother you, please don't feel like you have to read this story.
> 
> /thoughts/

/thoughts/

#### 1940 New York

Steve Roger's doctor's always told him he wouldn't make it to his twenties, his heart, lungs, and asthma would be the death of him, probably from something like the flu. When they told this to Steve at the rip old age of fifteen he squared his shoulders, put forth a lot of effort and graduated high school at the top of his class in the following years. He read what he could, worked hard, and roomed with Bucky so they could split the costs of everything. Bucky was finally able to enlist in the army and Steve felt he was being left behind despite his best efforts. But he didn't give up. He would never give up.

When Steve first signed up to be a part of the super solider program, he didn't realize just WHAT he was getting himself into. His goal? To serve his country in the best way he knew how. After many failed attempts at getting recruited through slightly forging his paperwork, there was finally someone who thought he would make a difference.

Doctor Erskine thought he was perfect for the super serum program. But the Doctor was vague in his explanations, and Steve was bright eyed and more than willing to accept whatever he could get. When Steve signed the papers allowing those in control of the experiment control over him, he didn't quite realize the far-reaching consequences of that action.

#### 2012- 4 months following Loki's invasion, September 2, 8:00am

For Tony it all started with a conversation with Clint about fondue over breakfast. For Steve, it all ended with the fondue conversation happening between his two teammates.

"I just don't see what the fondue has to do with Thanksgiving! You can totally have it at Valentine's Day, or Christmas... but Thanksgiving?" The pair walked into the kitchen and sat around the table, each grabbing a few of Bruce's pancakes, which they all agreed were possibly the best creation he'd ever made.

Natasha and Bruce were talking quietly together about different books they'd read, trying to get Steve to participate in their conversation. Prior to the entrance of Clint and Tony, the super soldier had been adding some comments to the conversation, but not much. But when his super hearing caught the voices of the entering pair he completely shut down from the rest of the group. Natasha and Bruce shared a look, having noticed Steve start to tense up, the fork in his hand being bent almost completely in half. Their companions though continued their argument oblivious to Steve's reaction.

"It's the gooey cheese and bread on a stick! You can totally have that at any party! Your birdbrain should totally appreciate eating the bread on a stick part to! Come on, I bet even Spangles over here probably had fondue at parties in the 40's… I mean he was a big celebrity back then…" Tony spoke, waving his fork around and almost slicing Bruce with his butter knife. Luckily the doctor was well accustomed to Tony's odd eating habits and was able to duck when needed.

Steve's brain was, as usual going a mile a minute. The conversation bringing back memories that Steve had thought he had buried very deep into his brain.

/Fondue! You know…. Sticky gooey…cheese. Yes cheese. Now sit down. We have some things to do…/ The voice of Howard Stark rang around in the Captain's head like the Norte Dame bells… and just as loud to. Nausea hit him for the first time since waking up in this century and the pancakes he ate felt like lead in his stomach. He knew he wasn't going to make it to the bathroom down the hall, but there was a garbage can was right next to the counter.

Without warning, the super soldier pushed away from the table, knocking over his chair in the process and barely made it to the garbage can before he was emptying everything in his stomach.

There was dead silence behind him when Steve finally managed to get a hold of his nausea. Not even Tony was speaking. The soldier glanced behind him at the others, Bruce looked like he wanted to get up, Tony was sitting with his mouth gaping open- fork and knife frozen in mid wave, and the assassin duo was having a silent conversation with their eyes, while occasionally glancing over at him. Had Thor not been on Asgard still, he probably would've been paused mid-bite on one of his favorite food items- a pop tart, in a similar fashion to Tony.

"There a problem?" Steve knew his voice sounded off, but he was having enough trouble getting his mind back in order, let alone his voice.

"Are you alright Steve?" Bruce, ever the doctor, jumped out of his chair and made his way over to the counter where Steve was hunched over, fingers crushing the counter edge, and his complexion pale. He put his hand up to Steve's head to check for a temperature but the super soldier maneuvered away from him before he could make contact.

Tony, ever the smart ass decided to hide his concern like he usually does, with sarcasm and jokes, "Wow Cap! Getting sick over a little talk of fondue? Isn't that not supposed to happen anymore what with your super serum self being done with these lowly human weaknesses?"

/Human? My boy, you are my best experiment to date!/ Howard's voice layered over Tony's, both ringing through Steve's head. He fought off another wave of nausea and something inside him just snapped, "You know Stark. For as much as you don't like it, you are exactly like your father. You could be fucking twins."

The comment came out of no where- Steve knew better than to mention Howard around his son. But his brain was in complete disarray. He was having trouble getting this thoughts back where they belonged and not completely overwhelming him. Tony's face closed off darkly, and Steve knew he was in trouble. But before Tony could retort the super soldier was gone.

"Jarvis!" Tony's voice was tight with anger.

"Sir, Mr. Rogers is on his way to his room as we speak." Tony nodded and stood to leave.

"Tony." Natasha stood, but it was Bruce that spoke. Tony glanced at the rest of his teammates before storming out of the room as well, his destination his lab.

The three remaining team members were left trying to figure out what just happened.

"Did Cap just curse?!" Clint's voice held the bewilderment they all felt. What in the world was going on?

And for once, not even Natasha could answer that question.

#### 1940 New York

The first time he met Howard Stark, was at the procedure. The genius had a gleam in his eye that Steve brushed off as a crazy scientist thing. The millionaire thought he was just a stupid little soldier, and like everyone else before him, was completely underestimating his abilities and intelligence. But Steve was all right with that. He didn't know Howard Stark and he wasn't about to try and change the mind of a man that he probably wouldn't see again.

The procedure worked and when Steve got out of the containment pod and back on shaky feet not only was the floor farther away than he remembered, but his whole body was completely different. His senses were tingling in new and exciting ways, his brain was working faster than it had before, there was a strange feeling in his gut that he couldn't place… and suddenly the observatory room was exploding and guns were being fired.

In the chaos Steve's brain, body, and senses…everything was screaming at him- almost louder than the people around him. He saw the doctor, shot and dying on the floor. When Steve rushed over to him, doctor Erskine must have saw something in his expression because in one single move, his very last, he helped Steve stabilize himself, get his body and mind, and senses under control and go after the guy who dared interrupt the project. Everything else would come with time.

#### 2012- 4 months after Loki's invasion, September 2, Noon

The elevator ding and the swoosh of this door closing were the only warning Tony got, before Agent Phil Coulson was making his way into his lab, bypassing the security lock down and walking up to Tony's work table. The same lab that he had Jarvis completely lock down before coming down to work off his anger at what the Captain had said to him. There was no cell phone in hand, and no briefcase either, which was unusual. And there was a glint in his eyes that Tony couldn't place.

"Agent," Tony barely glanced up from what he was working on, "My consulting days are every other Thursday. As you can see I'm rather busy and you are not welcome."

"Mr. Stark, I need to have a word with you now. If you do not turn around I will be forced to hit this button," he pulled a small device out of his pocket, "which will scramble your AI and destroy everything you've been working on in here for the past month."

"Sir, my scans indicate that Agent Coulson's device will do exactly that." Jarvis' voice interrupted whatever Tony was about to say.

The billionaire tensed, but turned around to completely face the other man. Whatever remark he was going to make died on his tongue when he caught sight of the Shield agent. Alarms were going off in his brain, and he wondered if he would need one of his suits by the end of whatever Agent wanted to say to him. "How can I be of service this afternoon Agent?"

Phil didn't say a word; he just reached into his jacket, and pulled out a thin folder. He gently placed the folder on the table next to him and indicated that Stark should pick it up.

Tony glanced between Agent Coulson and the folder. His curiosity got the better of him and he picked it up and began reading what was inside.

He froze, clenching the folder in two hands, posture completely ridged, not quite believing what he was reading. "What the hell is this? Is this a joke?"

"Not at all Mr. Stark." Phil's voice was neutral but there was a tightness to it that had the alarms going off in Tony's head a little louder. "In order to be a part of the super soldier program, Captain Rodgers had to sign a specific contract, that you are now reading. This is the only copy of that sheet of paper in the world. Not even SHIELD is aware of its existence."

Tony's mind was racing. The contract Phil showed him said that Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark, owned the experiment test subject known as Steve Rogers, or Captain America.

"How…Why would Cap sign something like this?" Tony glanced up at Coulson, his own face unreadable.

"Times were different in the early part of the 1900's. There was also a slight problem with Steve's participation that this contract helped take care of… he was seventeen years old when he underwent the procedure, with no living relatives to sign on the dotted line for him so to speak."

"His recruitment file said he was 20 years old." Tony was having a hard time wrapping his head around this, but at the same time a lot of Steve's behaviors since their meeting started to make a twisted sort of sense.

"The file also said he lived in five different cities, which we know is also not true," was Phil's counter.

"So, why are you showing me this now? Why not when Cap was first found in the ice? Why wait so long past forming the Avengers?" Tony's mind raced, but there was something he was missing. /Why now?/

Phil didn't answer, he just waited for the billionaire genius to figure it out on his own.

"Cap got sick this morning, threw up his breakfast… made a jab at me about Howard…. Wait. Howard was obsessed with finding Captain America…. Up until his death he never stopped looking…" /Cap's behavior towards me…. Dad's crazy obsession with him… the comments…the tension… the way he does stuff if I give him something resembling an order…/

"…What did Howard do to him?" Tony's inner alarm was now like a fire truck whistle in his brain, anger and something else Tony wasn't ready to identify began filling the billionaire genius.

Something flashed through Phil's eyes then, quicker than Tony could identify it. He pulled a small leather bound book out of his pocket and gently laid it on the table, in the same place he had originally put the folder, "Steve didn't want me to tell you about this at first. He was trying to deal with it on his own. He had been doing well up until this morning when you unintentionally triggered him. I told him I would step in if that ever happened, so you might understand. I had hoped you two would be able to get over your differences enough to be friends, outside of working together, but I didn't realize how badly this was still affecting him, friendship at this point would be almost impossible for him- it's really just up to you, now that you know what's holding him back."

Tony's eyes shifted between the folder, the notebook, and Coulson's face, mind still trying to process what was going on. He was still missing something and he wasn't sure if he was quite ready to look at the contents of that little book.

Phil continued before Tony could interrupt, "Yes, your father was obsessed with Captain America, but it wasn't necessarily a good thing. By the time anyone realized what was happening it was to late to help."

Tony was starting to feel nausea of his own. Phil pushed the small book closer to him. "Read it, don't read it. That's up to you. What's important here is that you now know what kind of power you hold over your fellow teammate; now understand why he's having trouble adjusting to your presence… and what you're going to do with that knowledge. You, Steve, and I are the only living beings that are aware of the situation he was in all those years ago- still is really."

Phil turned to leave. When he got to the door he spoke again, not turning around, "Steve was not the one to call me this morning. I just wanted to make that clear before I left. He's not yet aware that I'm even here."

With that he opened the door, and made his exit. Tony was left in silence.

#### 1940 New York

Doctor Erskine was the one who came up with the super soldier serum. He was the one that truly understood the implications of such an undertaking. The one that understood the boundaries, the capabilities, the weaknesses, the strengths, and unfortunately he was dead. Howard Stark was the money and engineering behind the experiment. He was the reason the whole thing was put into action. And Colonial Phillips was the military. He was to provide the soldiers that would be tested, and then selected for the program. With the doctor now gone, all hope of having a whole squadron of super soldiers went out the window with him.

It would be easy, Howard realized, to take full responsibility for the subject- have Colonial Phillips turn over his rights. He had some planning to do.

Steve's options were lab rat test subject, or working with this Senator Brandt to serve his country. Neither would get him on the front lines, but Steve thought he would have more of a chance to prove himself if he wasn't locked in some secret government agency for who knew how long. The strange sense in his gut seemed to agree because it wasn't tingling at him like it was before.

The second time he met Howard Stark was in a small exam room following the chase down of the Hydra operative. The millionaire genius seemed very fascinated with the tale of the chase, and the healing abilities of the subject. Steve was still trying to get used to his new body, mind, and senses… so he missed the warning in his gut that something was a little off. The small conversation that he had with the engineering genius was the first of many that would test Steve in more ways than he thought possible.

It was also the last time the Super Soldier would ignore the strange feeling in his gut that something was wrong.

#### 2012- 4 months after Loki's invasion, September 2, 1:30pm

Tony didn't make it out of his lab for hours following the conversation with Agent, as he was still prone to call him.

Steve, after getting a hold of the thoughts running ramped through his brain was able to come out of his room after only a few hours. He was just in time to see Phil joining Bruce, Natasha and Clint in the rec room, where the three avengers were attempting (and failing) to figure out what was going on between their teammates. Steve came into the room with a small sheepish smile and an apology on his lips for his behavior. The others brushed it off, Clint made a joke, and just like that they were all back to how things were before.

Steve excused himself to make something to eat and Phil quietly followed him into the kitchen. The duo shared a quiet conversation while Steve made some sandwiches, and brought the plate back to the rec room for everyone to share.

Phil didn't stay long past that. When the plate of sandwiches was empty, he chatted for a couple minutes longer, then made his way back towards the elevator with nods at the others. The avengers took that as their cue to leave as well and the four dispersed to do their own things until dinner was either ordered, or made.

Tony didn't make it out of his lab for dinner.

The others didn't comment- that type of behavior was ordinary for the genius. They cleaned up dinner and made their way back to the rec room. Clint started playing some video games, while Natasha and Bruce continued their book conversation from that morning. Steve for the most part just listened, again, and doodled in his sketchbook. He was very careful with it, so the others couldn't see what he was drawing.

Without warning, Steve snapped his book closed, keeping a tight hold on it. The pencil in his drawing hand was broken in half when a shadow made it's way out of the hallway and into the room.

A shadow was probably a good way to describe Tony. He looked horrible: his eyes were pained, hair in disarray, grease all over his clothes, and his arms crossed over his arc reactor. The playboy, genius, philanthropist, billionaire stopped in front of Steve, but far enough away to not crowd him.

When the two finally locked eyes, Tony made a small sound, and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking away. Steve didn't change his facial expression in anyway, but the hand holding the broken pencil pieces began tightening.

"I…." Tony mumbled to himself for a second, having a very hard time expressing what was going through his mind. Natasha, Bruce and Clint all paused what they were doing to stare at their two teammates, again lost about what was going on.

Steve didn't say anything just waiting patiently for Tony to say what he needed to say. "I didn't… this morning… I mean… I…" Again the billionaire paused and tried to gather himself. "This would be so much easier with a drink…"

Tony took another second to gather himself, and squared his shoulders, "Cap, I'm sorry about what I said this morning. I crossed a line, I apologize." /I'm sorry for what my father did to you. /

There was a moment of silence, where Tony fidgeted, Steve seemed to be starring at him, and the others just watched, afraid to even breathe.

The moment stretched.

Tony coughed, "do you… have anything to say to me…? For…something that might've been said back…maybe?"

Steve continued to look at Tony in silence. Tony waited a moment longer, then sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "No…why would you… Mr. Captain…freaking Amer-"

"I'm sorry also. For snapping at you and saying what I said." Steve's voice was quiet, and Tony almost thought he had dreamt it, but Steve continued, "You're not your father and I was out of line to say it."

Tony nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. He turned to walk away when- "Stark…did he-"

Tony cut off Steve's soft question before he could even finish it. "No." The tension was back and Tony shuddered. "No…he never… no."

Steve nodded as well some tension also leaving his shoulders. "I'm glad."

"…me too." And with that Tony was gone. Back down to his lab, with another awkward silence left with those not sure what was happening around them.

"…I really should stop destroying pencils like this." Steve's soft comment broke through the silence and earned a small chuckle from Clint. With that the relaxed atmosphere returned to the room.

Tony spent the next two days holed up in his lab. He was having trouble processing everything that had happened that day.

#### 1941 Italy

By the time he got to Italy, Steve wasn't sure if his gut knew quite what it was doing. Perhaps if he had done the lab thing, they could test his limits and see what he could and couldn't handle? No, he was doing that on his own in between shows…kind of. But that was the problem. He was second-guessing himself, and his abilities; for all that he's had a chance to do anything with them. What was the point anymore?

Steve met Howard Stark again in Italy. Before Steve could get pulled into his first performance Stark cornered him in a tent, in order to have a conversation with him. The meeting strengthened his resolve that he might have made the wrong decision. After all, he was just a science experiment now. And Howard Stark was the only one left on the contract Steve signed binding him to the experiment. Howard Stark made it very clear that he owned Captain America, and Steve Rogers couldn't do anything about that.

Steve also met Peggy again in Italy. Saw her for the first time in months. She helped him get faith back in himself. Returned him to believing in what he could do. She also helped push him in the direction of becoming who he was meant to be, and do what he was meant to do. She became his rock and he would never be able to repay her for what she was able to do for him.

Italy was both a blessing, in that the military was finally going to start taking him seriously as a leader and soldier. But it was also a curse in that he was now in constant contact with Howard Stark.

#### 2012 4 months after Loki's invasion, September 4th, 7:30pm

"Oh My God! How is he doing this?!" Clint threw his hands up in exasperation as Steve checkmated him for the 10th time in less than twenty minutes.

"I thought you said you never played before Cap?" Natasha's voice held a teasing note to it from her spot by Clint's side of the table.

Steve looked up from the board for a moment and shrugged. "Never had the time to learn."

Bruce walked into the kitchen at that moment and moved to the stove to make some tea.

"One more game Cap?" Clint turned his puppy dog eyes on Steve.

"I don't know Clint… I think you've had enough for one day… maybe tomorrow you can show me how to play those video games you like so much?"

"Well… how about you play Bruce then! He's a genius, with big science words and stuff- so it won't be as easy to beat him!" Clint turned his puppy eyes on said scientist who was chuckling as he sipped his tea and cleaned up the bar.

"How does knowing, 'big science words' equate to being good at chess?"

"Aren't you good at chess Doctor Banner?" Natasha piped up from next to Clint as she reset his side of the board.

"I'm just trying to find the correlation between big science words and chess is all." Bruce brought his tea to the table and sat next to Clint.

"So you'll play?" Clint smiled like the cat that ate the canary, "See if you can beat him Cap!"

"You don't have to play if you don't want to Doctor Banner." Steve said.

"It's Bruce, Steve- and I don't mind playing. Unless you don't want to anymore?" Bruce raised an eyebrow in concern.

"Sorry, Bruce. No that's fine. I'll play one more game… but that's it!" The last bit was aimed at Clint, complete with a pointed finger.

"Bring it." The archer still looked pretty smug about something.

Fifteen minutes later, Clint was happy that Steve didn't just kick Bruce's butt like he had done to him, when Jarvis interrupted the game.

"Sir's and Ma'am I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Stark wishes to see Captain Rogers in his lab when he is free."

Steve clenched his hands under the table briefly before he forced himself to relax them. He stood to and was about to apologize for leaving when Clint interrupted, "Wait! What about the game? You can't just leave!"

Steve shrugged and waved for Bruce to take his turn, but didn't sit back down. Bruce carefully looked over the board before moving his rook. He could end the game in three moves if need be. Steve looked slightly uncomfortable at the moment.

"Checkmate." Steve moved his queen and knocked over Bruce's king, "But that was a good game Doc- I mean Bruce. I should go see what Tony wants."

The super soldier nodded to the three of them before making his way out of the kitchen to the sounds of Clint's cursing. "How does he do that?!"

Natasha patted Clint on the back patronizingly. "Perhaps you'll do better with your video games."

Bruce chuckled and looked over the board. /He really is good at chess… who knew?/

Steve cautiously made his way down to Tony's lab. He'd been there before, but this seemed different somehow. It was bringing back memories again that he had tried to bury.

/Tony is not his father…/ this thought went through his head over and over as he made his way into the lab.

Two days prior, when Tony had come up to make his apology he had looked like a shadow. Now he looked like death. He was hunched over his worktable, hair a complete mess like he was gripping it with to tight hands, and a small leather book in front of him that he was just starring at. He was wearing his favorite MIT hoodie and sweat pants with socks, but no shoes.

Despite everything running through Steve's head he had to ask, "Are you alright?"

Tony chuckled darkly in answer, but didn't move from his position otherwise.

"Come, have a seat Cap." Tony gestured to the chair next to him vaguely with one hand.

Steve carefully maneuvered himself around the lab and sat at the seat Tony indicated. He glanced at the folder and small book on the table, recognizing both, but not changing his facial features in any way, waiting to see what Tony wanted to talk about.

"You know, I've always hated Howard. He was…not a good father growing up- because he was so obsessed with finding you. Everything was about you… and I… I could never measure up."

Tony paused and looked over at Steve, who had the same neutral look on his face that he usually did when dealing with Tony. "I'm not sure I would want to now that I've had time to think about it."

Tony slid the folder over to Steve, "You…you are more than just an experiment Cap. You're human and no one… no one has the right to own another human- Civil Rights and all that jazz."

Steve waited until Tony retracted his hand before he moved to pick up the folder. He gave a small noise when he saw what was in the folder, and looked back up at Tony to make sure he understood what was happening.

"Agent told me we are the only three living beings who know this contract exists. I don't… I won't keep it, or you. You're free to come and go as you please you know. I think the best thing to do would be to burn this and get rid of the evidence- so SHIELD can continue to not know anything about it. And you know we don't need to ever mention this again. Ever."

Steve gave Tony a small smile then. "I think that's a brilliant idea."

Tony pretended to look offended, "Well I am a genius."

Steve chuckled for the first time around Tony. "Thank you," Steve lifted the folder slightly to indicate what he was talking about, "for doing this."

"I would've done it sooner had I known." Tony sat up straighter, "Maybe we could start over as well?"

He stood up and held out his hand to Steve, "Hi, I'm Tony Stark- Genius, ex-playboy, billionaire, philanthropist."

Steve looked between the folder, Tony's hand and the little book- weighing the consequences- mind going in overtime.

After a few seconds that felt like hours to Tony, Steve stood as well, "Steve Rogers."

The two shook hands as tension eased out of their shoulders. They shared a look and knew this was the start of something new, something better. Steve also found that he could finally start letting go of the past.

"So, now that you're a free man, so to speak…care to have a bonfire with me? I have a couple old files that I want to get rid of, just because of how much I know it will piss off Shield…"

Steve paused as he gathered up the folder and leather book, "Tony… I know it didn't turn out to good for you…. But I'm glad that I was able to stop his attention from coming to you because I was lost in the ice."

Tony paused from gathering some of his own files and looked over at Steve, "Honestly? I'm glad that you went down in the ice as well… so he could keep his attention on the search and only the search."

As he closed the door Tony said, "Jarvis, erase all evidence of any interactions between Me, Steve, and Agent from the last couple days. Also start a fire in the pent house fire place."

The next morning, when Tony finally graced the others with his presence at breakfast it was a strange turn of events when Steve didn't come down to eat with them.

In fact, when the group asked Jarvis about it they were floored to find that Steve was nowhere in the tower at all. Jarvis also mentioned that Steve had packed a small bag and left on his motorcycle around 3 am.

When Tony went to the garage later that day, he found a Shield tracking device, a Stark Industries tracking device, Steve's cell phone, and the GPS from Steve's motorcycle all laid out on the hood of one of his cars. /That little sneak…/

Tony smirked, saluted the small devices and made his way back to the rec room to share the news with the others, cackling evilly as he realized what had happened.

Captain America…. Mr. Innocent-I-Don't-Know-Anything-About-Technology… had disappeared, probably under the nose of the greatest super hero's and spy organization in the history of the world.

Tony could not wait until he got the call from Fury about this.

#### 2012- NYC SHIELD Facility where Captain America wakes up

Sound was the first of his senses to awake, followed closely by smell and touch. Before opening his eyes he tried to take stock of where he was. There was a …baseball game? And…some traffic? He was on a bed, or what felt like a bed. There were other noises past the sounds of the game and the traffic…soldiers or police officers… It was time to open his eyes.

The room looked like it was from the forties, but it didn't feel like it was from the forties. As Steve pulled his feet to the floor the feeling in his gut started to go off in warning that something was wrong. The game started to make more sense- it was one he had been to with Bucky.

Clicking heels came from the other side of the door, but there was more shuffling of other bodies out of view. The feeling in his gut grew stronger. He tried to get answers, but she was having none of it. She was scared herself… nervous. Soldiers came in and his gut jumped with alarms blaring. He had to get out of there.

The streets were loud, the people different, the sights bright. He knew he was being followed but he couldn't stop moving. Couldn't get caught. When Steve realized he was in a strange version of New York, he came to an abrupt stop. His mind worked overtime to process. The cars caught up to him. A man with authority spoke with him. And just like that the "I'm just an innocent little soldier" mask clicked into place. He made a comment about missing a date, his mind working through everyone being dead.

The feeling in his gut diminished some, but not completely. This man… this organization couldn't be trusted- yet… they would have to pass a few tests first, and Steve would have to figure out this strange new world- enough to disappear if need be.

#### 2012 4 months after Loki's invasion, September 6th, evening

It actually took Fury two days before he admitted defeat (as Tony called it), and called Stark Tower (or Avengers Tower as the team liked to jokingly call it), about their way word captain.

"Where is he Stark?" Fury's angry face and voice overrode the video games on the television causing Thor to startle at the sudden change, and Clint to slip off the back of the couch in surprise. Bruce had almost tipped his tea, but managed to catch it at the last second. These types of things didn't ever faze Natasha, so she didn't even twitch, and Tony? Well, Tony had been expecting this call, so he had made a bet with Jarvis about when it would happen. Tony was just cackling semi evilly.

The cackling just made Fury's good eye twitch and his face tighten with more anger.

"Where is who Nicky boy?" Tony sipped his coffee feigning innocence. He wasn't about to make this easy for Shield. He had a reputation to uphold!

"Captain America. Where. Is. He." If looks could kill, the glare Tony was receiving would've had him dead twice over by now.

"Sorry Nick, my consulting hours are every other Thursday between 8:30 and 3:00pm, you'll have to check back next week." Tony didn't even try to hide the amusement in his voice. "Although, I find it hilarious that you lost Captain America! The man out of time, who's been in the 21st Century for less than a year, and who refuses to learn how to use a microwave for fucks sake! Aren't you supposed to be the best spy agency in the business?"

Clint chuckled at the memory of the last time one of them tried to get Steve to use said kitchen appliance- it hadn't gone down well at all.

"The captain is lost?" Thor's voice piped up from where he was lounging on a beanbag. "This is most troublesome indeed."

"Stark." Fury growled out Tony's last name like he was a wolf about to pounce on a deer.

"Besides, what makes you think I know where he is? Jarvis informed us a couple days ago that Cap took off in the middle of the night. He's not contacted us in any way, and unlike some crazy spy organizations I know, who shall remain nameless, I don't go around actively tracking people just because they leave the tower." Tony raised an eyebrow at Fury and took a deliberate sip of his coffee.

Bruce was the next to chime in, "Come on director, you were able to find me in Calcutta… but Steve isn't even from this time period and you can't locate him?" Disbelief was coloring his tone in waves.

"Someone's slipping…" Tony sang as he drank some more coffee, "And before you ask- no I will not help you locate him. You lost him, so you can find him all on your own. Who do you have leading the search a trainee?"

"Coulson is heading the search for the Captain. But even he hasn't been able to come up with anything." Fury said, "The counsel-"

"The counsel can kiss my ironclad as-"

"Tony, don't be mean." Bruce raised an eyebrow at his science friend.

Tony sighed but refrained from finishing his sentence, "We will not be helping and that's final. Jarvis!"

The TV fuzzed for a moment, and Nick Fury's face disappeared, only to be replaced with the game screen from before.

"All clear sir." Jarvis' amused voice confirmed what the TV was showing them, which is when Tony lost it and fell off the couch in fits of laughter.

"Again, I fail to see the humor in the situation." Natasha's bland voice only added to Tony's hysterics and floor rolling.

"If the Captain is missing shouldn't we make haste to find him?" Thor's confusion helped ground Tony, if only for a moment.

"Nah, that's alright. If Capsicle was in trouble, he knows how to get in touch with us. Besides, with everything that's happened in the last couple months, I think he deserves a little R'N'R, don't you guys? The fact that SHIELD can't find him… well that's just icing on the cake." Tony broke out into chuckles again.

"Jarvis, see if you can hack the search so we can gleefully watch Shield's little meltdown." Tony wiped some tears of joy from his eye; the others started to see the humor as Tony did- although they didn't express it as animatedly as him. "Don't you remember how I found all those things in the garage the other day- that's Cap's way of letting us know he'll be fine and he wants/needs some time alone."

"Hack complete sir. And if my memory serves, which it always does- I've won the bet." Even Jarvis' voice held some amusement at the situation.

"Damn! You're right…. If only they could've waited another two hours… ah well. Good job J. Bring it up on the small TV over by the bar and keep it running."

The group went back to their pre-Fury interrupted activities, while occasionally glancing over at the small TV. They could trust Steve to get a hold of them if need be, and they could trust him to take care of himself. Yes, they would sit this one out and give their Captain some much-needed space.

Although, all of them were thinking that it might be fun to be a fly on the wall (or in the air vents) when Steve finds out about Shield's antics.

#### 2012 pre Loki invasion- post Ice thawing

Shield helped the captain settle into a new apartment and one of the agents- Coulson, stayed, when the others in their little escort group left, to help him get acquainted with all the strange technology. Steve's gut was telling him that Coulson could be trusted, and by the end of the evening the pair were discussing some very important information.

The man had gone from a bubbling fanboy in the face of the other agents, to a down to earth mentor after they left, and a full on friend after the pair shared dinner and Coulson pulled out a small scrambler that he currently had switched on.

With the small device in place, he explained how Shield was monitoring the apartment, and he explained the politics of the current world. He also showed Steve the small leather bound book- and explained how Peggy Carter had passed the information down to him in the case/hope that the Super Soldier was alive.

In turn, Steve's gut feeling of trust for this man lead him to explaining some things about himself that he had only ever shared with Peggy. The pair got into a routine of behavior over the course of three weeks leading up to Loki's invasion, that seemed second nature when they were on the jet flying towards Shield's flying boat (as Steve liked to refer to it).

When they got word that Coulson had died, Steve knew deep down that Fury was lying to them again. But it wasn't the time to call the man on the lie- it was time to get a team together to fight off an alien invasion (even with the serum, Steve was having trouble with that insanity).

A month after Loki's invasion Fury called the Avengers together to their New York building and brought in Coulson- limping slightly and using a cane, but completely alive.

That was the first time Steve punched Fury in the face, much to the morbid amusement of the rest of the Avengers.

#### 2012 4 months after Loki's invasion, September 9th, afternoon

It was three days later that the Avengers got word from Jarvis that Fury was in the elevator, on his way up to the common floors to speak with them about Steve being MIA. They all gathered into the rec room incase they were needed to intervene in anyway. They all agreed to let Tony do most of the talking… because well… it was Tony.

Nick stormed off the elevator looking completely frazzled. It had been five full days and there was no word anywhere about Captain America's where-abouts. The counsel was ready to declare war, the search was getting them nothing, and no terrorist groups had made any demands in anyway relating to the wayward Avenger.

This shouldn't have been possible- but it was happening.

"STARK!" The volume of his voice rivaled Thor's when he was extremely excited, which caused some of the picture frames to rattle slightly on the walls.

"Nicky boy! What brings you to our humble abode? Please, feel free to storm in here yelling like a banshee having a temper-tantrum, I insist." Tony didn't even glance up from his SI tablet.

"It's been five days. FIVE! He could be dead for all you know, so why aren't you helping us find him?" Fury came fully into the room as he spoke, more agents filling in around the room- Coulson was among them. Bruce started to tense, but a gentle hand- Natasha- on his arm, and the fact that Fury wasn't even acknowledging he was in the room helped relax his body. He kept his eyes glued to his own Stark-pad, but his ears were honed in on the conversation between the head of Shield and their friend.

"I don't see what the big deal is Fury. Cap needed a break. He took a break. He's not back from said break yet. It's done and done, case closed." Tony stood, "I will not help you find him just because you and your stupid counsel are having a hissy fit.

They were interrupted by Jarvis; "Sir, the Captain is back. He is currently-" the elevator dinged again, and opened showing Steve, "in the elevator."

"Jarvis, we need to work on your coding for timing. This is getting to be ridiculous." Tony piped up.

"Of course Sir. I schedule that in for next week," and Tony nodded.

The super soldier stopped right outside the elevator and raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of him. His small bag was at his side and his signature brown leather jacket was hung over his arm. "Did I miss someone's birthday? What's going on? I heard yelling five floors down!"

Clint's "Cap's back!" was drowned out by Fury storming up to Steve, "What the hell do you think you were doing for the last five days? Where were you?"

Tony finally put his Stark-pad down, "Mom's been worried about you Cap, apparently the worlds finest spy organization… lost you. You were completely off their radar all week. I have to say, that's quite a feat!"

Steve brought his eyebrows down, the picture of confusion, "What do you mean? I went to visit the WWII graves of my teammates in Arlington Cemetery… and walk around the Capital to see how it had changed in the last half century."

Fury's good eye twitched, "The Cemetery."

Steve nodded, "Is that a problem?" His tone had a hint of danger to it, which Fury instantly recognized, but was too upset to heed.

"Then how do you explain the two trackers, the cell phone and GPS from your bike that were magically sitting in the garage after your little road trip started?"

Steve just stared at the director of Shield with a completely blank face. Tony was having trouble hiding his grin, so he grabbed his coffee cup and took a big sip."…oops?..."

Tony then proceeded to spew coffee out of his nose, and mouth in his attempt to not choke on it while laughing. Which lead to a couple Shield agents in front of him making horrified faces as they were in the spew zone, and Clint almost doubling over in laughter.

"And you didn't contact anyone because…."

"…I wasn't aware that I was five and in need of a babysitter." Bruce chuckled this time, at the honestly confused sincerity in his voice, while Natasha twitched her lips into a small smile. Clint was all but rolling on the floor. Natasha was the only thing keeping him upright. Thor was slightly wary of Steve's voice, so he didn't laugh like the others. Tony was also trying to reign in his coughing/laughing fit to no avail.

Fury intensified his glare, "don't do it again Soldier."

He then turned and stormed back into the elevator, while the rest of the Shield agents scrambled to join him.

Steve didn't give a verbal reply; he just turned and gave Fury another blank look, arms still crossed over his chest.

It was only after Jarvis informed everyone that the Shield agents had completely left the building- Elvis pun intended- that the others released the collective breath they didn't realize they were holding.

Steve picked his bag back up and put his jacket back over his arm. He turned to his fellow Avengers, "So… what'd I miss?"

His tone was light and teasing, so much different from what it had been a week ago. There was also less tension in his shoulders, and he was grinning at all of them. The air between the resident billionaire and super soldier was also clear, so whatever issue the pair had, was finally resolved.

"Not to much actually, it was a rather quiet week outside of Cyclops' hissy fits every couple of days because they lost you, Mr. Super Actor Extraordinaire." Tony's flippant response gained a chuckle from Steve for the first time ever.

Eyes glinting with innocence, and a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth Steve replied the best way he knew how, "Oops?"

Even Thor and Natasha joined in on the laughter at that point.

"Hey! Cap- you still have to let me teach you how to play video games. Get your stuff put away and get back down here pronto!" Clint's excited voice broke through the chuckles of the others.

Steve gave a small salute and made his way back to his room to put down his bag and jacket. His gut was telling him that he had some really good friends waiting for him in the rec room. And for the first time since all the Avengers moved into the tower, Steve readily agreed with his gut.

#### -The End-

#### 


	2. Where Bruce Learns to Relax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Steve have a heart to heart; a bad guy gets vaporized by "These aren't Hydra weapons! These are much cooler SHIELD Phase 2 weapons," and Bruce/Hulk has a personal break through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing! 
> 
> There is gonna be one more chapter, and maybe I will do something with the notebook mentioned in chapter one. I haven't fully decided yet…
> 
> So… this chapter came to me because of that scene in the Avengers where Natasha and Bruce get blasted out of the RnD room. She tries to reassure him, he looks at her, and BAM! Bruce's Hulked out and pissy.
> 
> Please note I haven't actually watched the Hulk movie… there have been like 5 remakes since the 90's and that can get a little monotonous… so I am making up a lot of the information on that part of things. Again, if something like that would bother you, please don't feel like you need to read this.
> 
> /thoughts/

##### 5 Months after Loki's attack

"Ok! You are going to play me, Bruce AND Natasha…at the same time. You can't possibly win all three games!" Clint had gone out and bought a couple more chess sets a week or so ago after Steve had repeatedly beat the three of them whenever they played. Currently, the marksman had three boards set up on the dinning room table, with the hope that having Steve play multiple people at the same time might give the others (or Clint at least) the chance to win.

Steve just shook his head in exasperation and crossed his arms, "All three of you at the same time. Bruce AND Natasha agreed to this?"

"It should give you a bit of a challenge right Steve?" Bruce came into the room holding his Starkpad, Natasha right behind him with a book written in Russian so the others didn't know what it was about.

"Besides," added Natasha, "It will be three times as good when you beat Clint while playing three games at once."

Twenty minutes later Tony came up from his lab for a new pot of coffee to find an unusual sight at the dinning room table. Clint was sitting on the counter, back to the table while Bruce, Natasha and Steve played chess. A third game board was cleaned up and reset off to the side.

"What's with the pout bird man?" Tony started up the coffee machine and went over to the table to see what was going on.

"Steve beat Clint first," said Natasha not looking up from her book, "He's sulking."

"Am not." Came the reply from the counter.

"You're playing all three of them at once?" Tony leaned over the table looking at the two boards. Steve was taking his turn against Bruce, while the scientist looked over the board.

"Check mate." Said Steve as he moved his Knight. He then moved over to Natasha's board looked it over, and "Check mate." He moved a Bishop taking one of her Knights.

Tony whistled, "Wow Cap! That's crazy!"

The coffee machine beeped and Tony made his way to get a cup. After downing the first cup like it was water, he refilled and started to make his way out of the kitchen.

"Wait! STARK!" Clint jumped off the counter and pointed at the other resident genius.

"What?!" Tony spun around not sure what to expect.

"Steve can play against YOU!" Clint had a slightly wild look in his eye as he looked between their Captain and Engineer.

The others all raised their eyebrows at the look, Natasha muttering lowly in Russian from the table.

"Maybe some other time Clint," said Steve, "Tony's probably working on something important right now, and I should get down to the gym for a while."

"Damn straight!" Tony nodded at Steve, "Not that I wouldn't want to beat you at a game of chess, but I am very busy doing…. things … in the lab right now."

Steve's mouth twitched into a little smile but he didn't say anything. Clint, still with the wild look just glanced between the pair. He wasn't going to give up on this, they could all tell.

"Barton, help clean up the table." Natasha's voice broke through the silence deflating Clint just a little. Between the four of them, Tony having escaped back to his lab, everything was put away rather quickly.

Bruce was in his lab later that week when Steve stopped in to see him. Bruce knew that Steve had been watching him for the past couple weeks, but the scientist wasn't quite sure why. There had been a battle involving giant insects that had been fed weird nuclear goo making them a pain to kill two weeks prior, but that had been it. The Other Guy had done his part, and followed orders from Steve, which Bruce still found hard to believe- but they had won the battle, so the physicist didn't know what the problem was.

"Hey Bruce," Steve was leaning against the door, in a very non threatening manner, "Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

Bruce put down his file and sat on his stool, "Sure, pull up a seat."

Steve moved into the room and pulled up a stool from another worktable and sat down, "I wanted to talk to you about the serum… if you don't mind."

The physicist tensed, but managed to take a couple calming breaths to relax some. He didn't need The Other Guy getting agitated over whatever it was Steve had to say. After a few moments Bruce found his voice, "Sure. Anything specific or just in general?"

Steve regarded Bruce quietly for a moment, his face giving nothing away in what he was thinking. "Did you know that I wasn't the first to get Erksine's serum?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow, not sure where Steve was going with this conversation, "Yeah, Schmidt took it to didn't he? But it wasn't complete and he wasn't stable…"

"Erksine said the way the serum worked was to take a good man and make him great, while taking a bad man and making him worse." Steve leaned forward a little bit, making sure he had Bruce's full attention and maintained eye contact, "Schmidt was bad before the serum, but after… he was evil incarnate. He was the Red Skull."

Bruce's face took on a confused expression; he wasn't sure where Steve was going with the conversation. "The Other Guy-"

Steve shook his head, "You are not a bad man Bruce. You weren't before your experiment, and you certainly aren't now. Because of this, the Other Guy… the Hulk… he cannot be evil. He is not a monster."

Now Bruce was shaking his head in denial, but Steve didn't let him get a word in edge wise, "Bruce, had you been alive in the 1940's… had you been found by Erksine… you would've been another candidate for his serum. You could've been the first Super Solider. I know, because we are very similar in the qualities that count- the qualities that would make a good man great. When you did your experiment, there wasn't a problem with the man it was the serum that was flawed. And even then, I believe you where on the right track for getting it correct. The calculations were a little off, or whatever it is you science guys do with that kind of thing."

There was a small smile tugging at the super soldier's lips so Bruce knew that last bit was not meant as a dig. Steve leaned over and poked Bruce in the chest, the same way that Doctor Erksine did to him, "The man makes all the difference with the serum. You're a better man than you give yourself credit for."

"If The Other Guy is what you consider a little flaw…then I'd hate to see what would constitute as a big flaw." Bruce shook his head, even though Tony would constantly tell him these kinds of things, it seemed to hold more weight coming from Steve. Bruce felt himself relaxing just a little more than he usually did.

Steve saw Bruce start to relax and his smiled became a little wider, "Trust me when I say you don't want to know."

There was a moment of silence between the pair, where they were both contemplating what was already said. Now that Steve saw that Bruce was more relaxed he thought he could bring up the other thing he wanted to talk about.

"You know, Doctor Erksine was very vague when he told me about what the serum would do." Bruce looked up, interested in where Steve was now taking the conversation, "There were the specific things like strength, speed, metabolism… stuff like that. But there were other things that weren't mentioned, that I don't even know if he realized what fully would happen. But he died before I had a chance to ask him."

Bruce nodded, having known that from his own research but didn't add anything.

"When Erksine died..." Steve hesitated a moment before continuing, "I was angry. And I wanted revenge against the man who did it, and there was a moment- with that anger, where I felt a change in myself. I felt different, in a sense, and I took off after the Hydra operative. I didn't Hulk Out…as Tony and Clint like to call it, in the same way that you do, but there was a change- a need to protect, but also a need for some revenge."

Bruce's eyebrows jumped straight to his hairline, what Steve was talking about now… was not in any of the files he had read. /I wonder if Steve did that on purpose…/

"Why didn't you share that with the doctors and the army? Why keep it to yourself?" Bruce was truly confused about why Steve wouldn't let that bit of information be known. He could've went straight onto the front lines, not be a performer or lab rat.

"One of the extras from the serum was this gut feeling- I think you might have it to… if you gave yourself a chance to listen. But my gut was telling me in that lab, at that time, it wasn't right. It wasn't the place or time to give over that information. Colonial Phillips wanted an army of super soldiers that had speed, strength, and would obey orders, so that is what I gave them after I went to Italy and after I mounted the rescue that changed everything… I gave them Captain America." Steve was looking intently at Bruce, trying to make him understand what Steve was trying to tell him.

For all his genius though, Bruce felt like he was missing something. He couldn't figure out what that was… just that there was a missing piece to this puzzle, "So…when you're Captain America… that's the serum. And when you're not… You're Steve Rodgers? But you can turn it off! With the Other guy… there is no "off switch…" he's always there trying to take over if I let my guard down to much. How is that the same?"

Steve smiled and shook his head, "Not quite doc, during the war I was only able to "turn off" Captain America, so to speak because Captain America knew without a shadow of a doubt that Bucky, and the Howling Commandos had my back. That it was safe for me to relax and let go. And that was an automatic response because growing up with Bucky… we were always watching out for each other- him more so than me for obvious reasons. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was ok for me to let go while not on missions."

"So you're saying I don't feel safe here?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Do you?" Steve shot back right away. It wasn't condescending, but there was something in his tone that told Bruce the super soldier could read him like an open book. Bruce flushed slightly and looked away but didn't respond.

"Bruce," Steve waited for the scientist to look at him again, "I get it. I really do- when the accident happened it didn't go the way it was supposed to- and there were a lot of people out for your blood because they didn't understand- still don't really- what the Other Guy is. If I were in your situation I would feel the same way. And it's been so long since the accident that it's hard for you to let go, but it's even harder for the Other Guy to completely trust others enough to have your back because that's always been hard for you as well. You are afraid of yourself, and the Other Guy is afraid for you. Does that make sense?"

Bruce really thought about what Steve was saying. The Super Soldier didn't push, and let him take the conversation in. Bruce has always had trust issues, and since the accident they'd been amplified to the extreme. But what Steve was saying made sense in a way. "So how do I get over this? How can I learn to let go?"

"I don't think you've been in a situation yet where the Other Guy and you have both felt completely safe with the people around you. Yes we go on missions together, and Hulk will obey orders in his own way, and yes around the Tower the others try to make you feel welcome, but even with us you are afraid to let go and trust, which means the other guy is still going to be afraid for you and will stay at the surface because he wants to keep you safe. It's just going to take time, and I want to help you figure this out."

Steve's voice held such sincerity that Bruce felt himself starting to believe him just a little. The scientist nodded and Steve seemed to realize this was the end of the conversation for today. He stood and moved his chair back to where it was at another workbench.

"Steve…thanks." Steve looked over at him with a small smile and nodded, before turning and making his way out of the lab.

It was later that day that Bruce realized that Steve was trying to help him feel like he was part of a family- a crazy group of people with their own quirks and enough issues to make them all certifiable for two life times, but a family nonetheless.

It was actually a couple weeks after that afternoon conversation, when a ton of shit hit the fan that Bruce finally understood exactly what Steve was talking about. And even though he was there, in the situation, the scientist couldn't articulate what exactly happened if his life depended on it.

Which, at the time; it did.

Bruce was making his way down the road to a small diner that he and Steve would occasionally go to for lunch when it happened. There was a strange feeling in his gut that the scientist didn't recognize at first was a warning. It was only after he felt several something's hit the back of his neck, and extreme drowsiness set in that Bruce understood the gut feeling for what it was.

But at that point it was to late, because he- and the Other Guy were both fighting a losing battle against consciousness.

It could've been hours…or days later when Bruce started to regain control of his senses. But even then everything was woozy. The Other Guy was fairing only slightly better than he was, but Bruce was also trying to control him at the same time. Voices were around him, one of whom sounded alarmingly familiar, but he was still very much out of it and couldn't understand what was being said.

"Dosage…Sir…sleep…" Things were getting dark again, and Bruce again lost the battle with consciousness.

"Bruce…Bruce!...Wake…Bruce!" Someone was standing over him… and another familiar voice was fighting its way into his brain.

"…Steve…?" Bruce slowly regained his senses and realized who it was standing over him. He could also feel the Other Guy fighting to wake as well, and take over. "Where… what?" Bruce groaned and fought off the Hulk for control.

"Come on… Sit up. There you go." Steve had a hand around Bruce's shoulder's helping him sit up. Bruce took a look around the room as he fought for control from the Other Guy and saw three scientists, and two guards all lying very still on the ground. Bruce was couldn't hold off the Other Guy any longer, he tried to push Steve away.

"Steve…can't… I can't…" He could feel himself turning green, so he tried harder to get away from Steve's tight grip.

"Hey, Bruce- it's ok. Stop struggling. Bruce!" Steve tightened his hold around Bruce's shoulders, "Hey. It's okay. Let me talk to Hulk."

"That's… not a really good idea right now Steve." Bruce doubled his efforts to get away.

"It's fine. Trust me… Bruce. Let me talk to him." Steve's voice took on a hard tone to it, one that he reserved for missions. Bruce felt the Other Guy respond to the command and felt his head turn towards their team lead- the Hulk more in control than him.

"Hulk." Steve's voice was firm and Bruce felt like an outsider in his own skin, "Hulk- I need Bruce's help right now. Let me protect him, so he can help me get us out of here. Let me protect him for you."

Bruce felt strange. The Other Guy was looking at Steve the same way he looked at Natasha on the Helicarrier during Loki's attack. The Other Guy was angry, as was his usual, but there was something else there as well… a feeling Bruce couldn't identify as he watched the starring contest going on from inside his head.

Without warning Bruce felt the Other Guy growl and suddenly recede back into their shared mind. Bruce nearly toppled over in both shock and confusion because he was back in control of his body. /Holy Shit! What just happened?/

Bruce could feel the other guy, but it was how he normally was. He was angry- yes, but he wasn't trying to take over… he was… waiting… and watching…

Steve arms around him were the only things keeping him upright for a few moments, as Bruce could not process what had just happened. "You… what…. Huh?"

"Are you alright?" Steve's concerned glaze looked him over, his arms careful around his shoulders as the super soldier waited for Bruce to regain control. Bruce nodded and sat up straighter, still lost at how Steve had managed to get the Other Guy to back down.

"What did you do?!" Bruce really wasn't processing very well. This had never happened before.

"I'll explain later. Are you all right? I wasn't joking when I told the Other Guy that I needed your help." Steve pulled his hands away and moved a little away from the table back towards one of the scientists. He grabbed the ID tags off his jacket and started to move towards the guard who was holding what looked like one of SHIELD's Phase 2 weapons.

Bruce pulled himself together with a deep calming breath, "I'll be okay. Where are we? What's going on?" He jumped off the table and steadied himself with the edge of it as he got control of his legs again.

"We seem to have been captured. Just the two of us from what I can tell. These guys were trying to do something with the serum… or trying to do something with us from what I can tell." Steve grabbed the phase 2 weapon look alike and moved back over to Bruce. "Does the name General Ross mean anything to you?"

Steve must've known it would, because Bruce felt the Hulk growl again and start to take over.

"Hulk!" Steve's voice was firm, and the look in his eyes was back, "Let me do this." Bruce suddenly realized what the strange feeling was from earlier… danger… was radiating off of Steve in waves. But not a danger towards them- it was towards their captors. Hulk receded again, but only just. 

"Ross is here?!" Bruce was feeling slightly dizzy from this little back and forth he was playing with the Other Guy. Steve nodded, "I have a plan to get us out… Trust me."

The feeling of danger was radiating off Steve in an intense wave, which oddly enough was helping the Other Guy stay in the back of their mind. Steve blasted the weapon at the three scientists and two guards causing all three to vaporize.

"Not Hydra weapons my ass." Steve muttered as he moved towards the door. "Okay. Here's the plan…" The super soldier proceeded to outline a plan to get them out of the base they were in.

The base itself was relatively small with only authorized personnel and a skeleton crew of guards. The pair methodically made their way through the base- Steve vaporizing everyone they came in contact with and Bruce trailing close behind him. When they got to the main control room there were a few officers, and the loud voice of one General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross giving out commands. Steve pushed Bruce off to the side of the door and used the ID tag to open the door.

With the gun at the ready the Super Soldier pushed into the room before the door was even fully open, blasting at all the people sitting at the different stations. By the time their captors realized what was happening Ross and Steve were the only ones left in the room.

The General opened his mouth to say something… probably about how Steve was acting like an enemy to the country because he was shooting without hesitation at US Army soldiers- but the speech never came because Steve blasted him straight in the chest, vaporizing him like everyone else on the base. "All clear Bruce."

Bruce made his way into the room, not even glancing around at the lack of people. He had tried to say something at first, when Steve was shooting at the guards and scientists but the super soldier calmly told him that some times killing was necessary and when someone threatened his crazy family he tended to take that kind of thing personally and wasn't above revenge in this capacity. Bruce at that point remembered stories Steve had given them about the war and realized this was the same kind of situation for the solider.

"Besides," Steve added, "I have a promise to keep."

The scientist didn't say anything else after that.

Bruce went up to the computers and started hacking through the bases recorders and also the radiation labs set up near where they had woken up. Steve was at another computer sending out a message for pick up and setting off the bases self-destruct sequence.

Steve's computer beeped, signaling the start of the count down just as Bruce's computer signaled the labs to open the radiation protection panels, which started leaking said radiation into the base as a whole.

"We good?" Bruce nodded and the pair made their way out of the base, everyone there having been vaporized. Steve blasted open the exit hatch, which lead the pair into a forest clearing. The two started jogging through the trees, trying to put as much distance between them and the impending explosion as they could.

Five minutes later, the ground rumbled as the base self destructed and imploded into the ground, creating a crater in the middle of the forest. Bruce and Steve stopped at the base of a large tree near the edge of the crater as they waited for their pick up and Bruce experienced something completely alien happen with his body. The Other Guy, who had been tensely waiting through the whole experience, seemed to settle into his mind- no longer at the front of his consciousness, but actually farther back and less… angry. Bruce felt like he could breath deeply for the first time in years, and couldn't hold back his astonishment at this revelation- sharing it with Steve as he sank to the forest floor under the tree.

Steve nodded, the feel of danger leaving him as he joined Bruce to settle at the base of the tree. The super soldier didn't say anything, he just let Bruce process what had happened. The conversation from a few weeks prior echoed through Bruce's brain and he suddenly realized that this was what Steve meant. There had been a moment in the facility where the Other Guy really looked at Steve and saw he meant what he was saying. The feeling of danger he was projecting was one of protectiveness. He would keep Bruce safe for the Hulk no matter what he needed to do to achieve that goal.

For the first time in a long time, Bruce and the Other Guy both believed that Steve would do everything in his power to help keep them safe. That he had their back. With Steve around, Bruce could feel the Other Guy settle more, letting the scientist relax in a way he hadn't been able to in years.

Bruce shared this revelation with Steve, which lead to the super soldier smiling widely and throwing an arm around Bruce's shoulder in a show of support, but also grounding him with this knew found knowledge. The pair talked about it a little more, with Steve giving more information about the gut feeling aspect of things and Bruce making a hypothesis on other ways to see how far reaching this new level of control was.

After a while they ended up telling each other stories about lab assistants who were to creative in their experimentation and liked to blow things up or stupid things the Howling Commandos (mostly Bucky mind you), did to try to embarrass Steve when they were in between missions.

Their pick up came about two hours later in the form of Iron Man and a quinjet holding Clint, Natasha and Coulson. Tony was the first on scene, only to be completely flabbergasted by the sight of Bruce literally rolling on the floor in fits of laughter, with tears in his eyes, at whatever story Steve was telling him. There was no green anywhere on his body that Tony could detect, making the scene even more confusing for the genius. "What in the world is so funny Banner? Do share with the rest of the class!"

Steve paused in his story long enough to say, "You're late," which allowed Bruce to try to get control of himself as the three SHIELD agents exited the quinjet, and carefully made their way over to the seated pair of Avengers.

"You alright Doctor Banner?" Natasha's cautious voice stopped whatever smart-ass reply Tony was going to make. Bruce nodded as Steve stood and offered him a hand up. The scientist dried the rest of the tears from his eyes and nodded his thanks at Steve for the hand up.

"Yes, I'm fine… Perfect really." The doctor's demeanor seemed completely different, totally relaxed- something that confused their group of rescuers. Bruce was expecting the Other Guy to come back towards the forefront of his mind, now that they weren't alone and the relaxation to turn to tension again, but Steve bumped their arms and the Other Guy stayed settled at the back of his mind. The physicist had a certain lightness in his step, and a smile that reached his eyes as they made their way back to the jet and SHIELD head quarters for a debriefing.

The debrief at SHIELD was a rather interesting affair, to be sure. Steve took the lead in explaining what had happened at the facility, leaving out bits of information and rearranging other things in their story. He started by saying he had sort of woken up in the lab first, to the sounds of someone who Bruce later seventy percent I.D'ed as General Ross, ("Give me a break Tony- I was more drugged than a herd of full grown elephants… they could've had a talking kangaroo for all I know…") and a couple of scientists talking amongst themselves- something about controlling the serum or destroying the two of them.

The General, or who ever it was, had left in a hurry after speaking with the scientists- something about not being affiliated with this project (Steve had heard that bit)- and within a half hour an alarm had started going off. Apparently one of the labs had a radiation leak which lead to the whole facility being evacuated. Steve had gained full consciousness by that point- because of the blaring alarms and was able to break out of his restraints and help Bruce. Obviously at that point their captors were going with the destroying the two of them portion of their plan as they had been left in the room alone when the alarms went off.

The pair had made their way to a computer in order to send off a communication for extraction, and got out of the facility into the surrounding forest just in time for the whole thing to collapse in on itself. (Apparently the facility had a self-destruct code that would be triggered by the radiation levels going critical.) Then they just waited for pick up by amusing each other with funny stories.

"Really Director, there was not a single person left in the building when we made our exit. But by that point the radiation levels were steadily climbing, so it was dangerous for our captors to stay." Steve wove the tale with such conviction and ease that Bruce could only nod in agreement with what was being said.

When Fury had questioned him about why he hadn't "Hulked Out," he just rubbed his forehead and explained that the drugs they had tranqed him with had somehow subdued the Other Guy even after he had woken up. By the time the Other Guy was fully awake, they were making their way into the forest and Steve had been able to talk him down from blowing up, so to speak. He kept his mannerisms on par with how he normally acted at these meetings, which seemed to help ease the Director's mind… (Well Bruce hoped it did anyway.)

Bruce had a feeling the team and Coulson didn't quite believe their story, but they were willing to let it go until they were out of SHIELD HQ and back at Stark Tower before they called their bluff. Clint even went so far as to back up what they had said by providing evidence from the quinjet scans that showed high levels of radiation coming from the crater. Tony had then backed that up with his own scans from his suit, and Phil had called in a containment team to stop said radiation from spreading into the surrounding forest.

It was hard for Bruce to tell if Fury had believed their story, the man had a poker face almost as good as Steve's (and THAT had been a hilarious night when the team figured that little bit of information out…), but in the end the fact that it was Captain America weaving this particular tale… and he's an innocent national icon- why would he make something like this up?- That allowed them to leave the brief with their story as is.

When the group returned to the Tower, the escapees were able to fend off attempts at more questioning by claiming exhaustion and they made their way to their respective rooms. Steve bumped Bruce's shoulder as he left the elevator for his floor, "let Jarvis know if I need to stop by for any reason tonight."

Bruce nodded as the doors closed. The Other Guy, who had stayed at the back of the scientists' mind the whole way back from the facility, seemed to growl his acceptance at the Captain's words. Hulk made no move to take over or push forwards into Bruce's consciousness- he seemed content and Bruce didn't have to feel angry to be in control of himself.

For the first time in a long time Bruce was able to have a full nights deep sleep without worrying about the Other Guy trying to take over.

Bruce could get used to this newfound calm.

"Really Barton? Why would I use one of these…. Boards…. When I can have Jarvis pull up a hologram board?! That would make the game like thirty percent cooler... Although I'm not sure if that would give me an unfair advantage since I'm not even sure Capsicle here even knows how the hologram board would work…" Tony had been dragged from his lab by said marksman a couple of days after the capture/rescue mission of their teammates so Tony could finally play a game of chess against Steve. The genius had been putting it off for whatever reason (probably just to annoy Clint), but today the archer had been relentless in his annoyance of Tony.

Steve's lips twitched up into a small, amused smirk but he didn't say anything in return. He did however move over to the hologram table, where Jarvis had brought up an artificial chess board and plucked a black and white piece up- juggling them for a moment then putting his hands behind his back. "Left or right?"

Tony grinned back and chose right… He was white and had the first move. The others watched in fascination as the game moved rather quickly. After a couple minutes though Tony realized it wouldn't be an easy win like he had originally thought and started concentrating a little harder on the board.

"Check mate," however his attempt was too little to late, and he lost.

"Well crap." The genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist gave Captain America a small glare and had Jarvis reset the board. Clint was grinning because that game had lasted even less than the ones he played against Steve.

Their second game ended with the same outcome, but in Tony's defense he did pay better attention and the game did take longer than the first.

Before Tony could demand a third game, as he was a pretty sore loser, a call came in from his friend Rhodey. The military Colonel very casually asked Tony if he and his friends had heard or seen any movement from a General Thaddeus Ross, who was known for his special interest in a certain doctor currently in residence at the tower.

Tony didn't miss a beat, in replying with, "No we haven't seen or heard from Thunderboy Ross in a while, but we will be extra vigilant and keep our eyes and ears open and report any suspicious activity to both SHIELD and the army."

The pair went round in circles for a couple more minutes before Rhodey pinched the bridge of his nose, reiterated that the Tower residences should report something ASAP if they found anything- "Damn it this is serious Tony!"- and cut off the connection.

Bruce, who was still in his newfound state of relaxation, couldn't quite hold in his slightly evil chuckle, which lead to Steve producing an evil grin of his own. This lead to the rest of them pulling the pair to the rec rooms couch, and demanding the real story of what had happened a few days prior with their capture.

Bruce and Steve shared a look, then preceded to explain the true version of events on the day in question, while the others looked on with morbid fascination. By the end of their tale all thoughts of chess were long forgotten.

Well, they eventually reasoned, that was one less bad guy they had to be on the look out for… right?

##### -The End-


End file.
